Selector for group control systems



SELECTOR FOR GROUP CONTROL SYSTEMS Filed D90. 22, 192'? awuemtoz lMrich Kohn Mm WW Patented Sept. '20, 1932 WWI UNITED STATES PATENT {OFFICES ULRICH norm, or BERLIN, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR TO THE TABULATING MACHINE oom- PANY, or nnnrco'rr, NEW YORK, A GOBPQRATION OF NEW JERSEY SELECTOR FOR GROUP CONTROL SYSTEMS Application filed December 22, 1927, Serial No. 241,767, and in Germany Jilly 28, 1927.

This invention relates to accounting ma-' chines of the card controlled type and more I particularly to an automatic control system for said types of accounting machines.

Heretofore such devices termed group control devices have been used to arrest the machine automatically upon the sensing of changes'of group numbers in selected columns on the record cards passing through the machine or to effect an automatic total taking of the items on the cards of a preceding group" characteristic and a resetting operation of the accumulators before proceeding with the 'tabulating of the next succeed- I ing group of cards bearing a difierelit group characteristic. In practice, it has often proved to be desirable to operate the group control means only upon the change of a selected group characteristic, omitting control of the intervening groups, thus automatically effecting the total taking of the cards bearing a series of successive group characteristics.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a new and improved automatic control system possessing the functions prev ously residing in such systems and 111 addition certain new features lending increased flexibility to the system.

Another ObJQCt Qf the invention is to provide an automatic control system in which machine operation will be modified only in the event of preselected group} data changes in selected columns. For example, the machine may be made to take a total only on a change of group data involving 2 in the units control column or on a change of group data involving 2 in the units column and 5 in the tens column.

Another object of the invention is to pro' vide an adjustable selector device for selecting certain record groupsin which total taking is to be effected.

Another object of the invention is to provide an automatic group control system in which successive groups may continue to accumulate until a, preselected change in group data occurs. 7

Another object of the invention is to provide anautomatic group control system in which successive groups may continue to accumulate until one of a number of preselected changes in group data occurs.

Other" objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the specification and the accompanying drawing which shows one embodiment of this invention and whereinthe single figure illustrates a circuit diagram of the group control system.

The general scheme of'operation of the group control system may be best understood by considering briefly the operation of the printing tabulat or disclosed in the copending application of Lake, Serial N 0. 639,153, filed May 15, 1923, and U. S. Patent No. 1,600,413, September 21, 1926'. These tabulators are provided with upper or control brushes and lower or adding brushes which analyze each card in succession 'for the usual differentially located index points thereon.

The cards are sorted into groups prior to the tabulating operation in accordance with group control or characterizing numbers inselected columns and then passed through the tabulating machine in succession, that is the cards of agroup follow each other succes- "sively until the group is exhausted and then the cards of the following group succeed each other in like manner. The upper and lower brushes analyze successive cards concurrently and cooperate to maintain the machine in operation as long as the group control numbers in successive cards agree. During this operation the data represented by perforations in the amount columns of the cards are automatically entered into the accumulating mechanism of the machine and added. When the last card of a group is passing the lower brushes the first card of the succeeding group is under the upper brushes whereupon the group control perforations as analyzed by the upper and lower brushes fail to agree. Consequently the upper and lower brushes no longer cooperate to maintain the machine in accumulating operation and the machine may be arranged to either cease operation altogether or take a total from the accumulating mechanisms. After the total taking operation, accumulating may be manually or automatically initiated on the following card group and the group control operation repeated.

The group control scheme. of the present invention differs from the foregoin only in the addition of further means 0 I control whereby limitations may automatically be made to effect the operation of the first mentioned scheme.

Only suilicient circuits to readily describe the invention have been shown in Fig. 1. The counter circuits, printing circuits, and motor control circuits being well known in the art and having no part in this invention, have been omitted.

Reference numeral 1 indicates the circuit which controls the interruption of the motor circuit, the contact 2 when closed permitting the tabulating-motor to run and when, open causing said motor to stop and a totaltaking to be effected in the usual well known manner. This contact is controlled by a magnet 3 which when energized attracts its armature 4. pivoted at 5 and fastened at 6 to one member of the contact 2 effecting the closure of said contact.

A spring 7 also fastened at the point 6 of the contact biases the member of the contact to which it is attached so that on the deenergization of the magnet 3 the contact 2 is open and the armature 4 is swung away from the magnet 3 about the pivot 5.-

The group controlis effected in the usual manner through two sets of brushes 10a, 10b

and 11a,11b. The record cards 12 pass downwardly between the brushes and the contact roll 13 and while cards of a like group are passing both upper and lower brushes said brushes will be concurrently sensing perforations in agreement in their respective group control, columns thus causing the energization of the magnets 14a and 146.

The circuit through these magnets is from the positive side of supply 15, contact 16a, now closed, contact roll 17, brushes 11a and 11b, magnets 14a and 14b, brushes 10a-and 10?) respectively contact roll 13 to the otherside of the supply line 16. The energized magnets l la and 14b attract their respectivearmatures 18a and 18?) thereby releasing the latches 19a and 19?), which being'biased by sprinfigs 20a and 206 are rotated clockwise abou their pivots 21a and 21b and close contacts 22a and 22b. Thelast mentioned con tacts' are wired in series and span the contacts 23 so that the opening of contact 23 is 6 ineffective if contacts 22a and 22?) are closed at that time. The contact 23 opens momentarily towards theend of each card cycle and controls the energization of the ma et 3 through the circuit from positive supp y terthe motor circuit 1 and the inotor continues to operate. r v

Should a change in group numbers occur, the perforations on the upper and lower card records will not concurrently encounter brushes 10a, 10?) and 11a, 11b and therefore one or both circuits to the magnets 14a or 145 will fail to be completed. This will in turn prevent one or both of the contacts 22a or 226 from. closin and thus preventthe completion of the s unt'circuit around contact 23 so that when said contact opens the circuit to magnet 3 will be interrupted thus causing contact 2 to open and causing the tabulating machine motor to stop as previously explained. The contact 23 is actuated by a cam 26 on the tabulating shaft (not shown) and causes contact 23 to open momentarily at the endof each card cycle. After contact 23 again closes the restorin cams 27a and 276, also operated from the ta ulating drive shaft, restore the latches 1 19a and 19b to their "locked position thereby openingcontacts 22a and 22?).

Each lowerbrush lla and 1112 has con-. nected thereto the segments of a fixed commutator-28a, 28?), said segments being under control of a plurality of switches 29a and 296 so that any one of a plurality of saidsegments may have its circuit connected to or disconnected from its respective brush 11 bfy' with the index point positions on the cards as they pass the lower brushes 11 i. e. the wiping contact makes contact with the, first segment as the brushes 11 pass theQ position on the card, making. contact with the second segment as the 8 index position passes the brushes. ing contacts 28a, 286 are magnet coils 32a and 32?) respectively. The armatures 33a and 33b of said magnets normally biased upwards by the springs 34a and 34b hold in a latched position the members 35aand 35b pivoted at 3611 and 36b and biased in aclockwise direction by springs 37a and 37b. The aforesaid members coordinatewith contacts 38a and 38?) so that the energization of the magnets 32a ,and 32b releases their respective latches and permits the contacts 38a and 38b to close. These contacts are each connected in multiple with the Connected in circuit with the wipcontact 23 so that the closure of either one of the two beforementioned contacts at the time of the opening of contact 23 will nullify the effect of the opening of said contact 23 on the magnet 3. .It may therefore be seen that the opening of contacts 22a and 22b and 23 at the same time will fail to open the magnet 3 if either one of contacts 38a or 380 are closed. The restoring cams 39a and 39b driven by the tabulator shaft serve to restore the members a and 35b to their latched position at the end of each card cycle.

In the above drawing the device is shown for two decimal figures only but it may be understood that these. control devices may be applied to any number" of decimal figures having a set of brushes for each decimal column with their cooperating control magnets and commutators. As an example of the manner in which this control operates let it be assumed that we have a number of cards divided into groups designated from one to twenty and that we desire to take totals at the end of groups ten and twenty only. It will be assumed that the brushes 10b and 11?) search the tens digit column. The switch 29?;

' connecting the segment of the commutator 28?) corresponding to the zero index point position of a card will be closed, all other switches of the group remaining open. The switches 29a connecting those segments of the commutator 280. corresponding to the one and two index positions of the card will be' closed, all others remaining open. As the cards are fed past the brushes and as the upper and lower brushes sense the change from group 1 to group 2, group 2 to group 3' etc., the contacts 22 both will be open as previously explained but inasmuch as the switches connecting the commutator segments in the units column to the first, second and third index points of the card are open no current will pass through, the magnet 32?) or 32a and the contacts controlling these magnets will remain closed so that the magnet 3 will not be affected and the tabulating machine will not stop at the change of such a group. When the last card of group 10 is under the lower brushes the first card of group 11 is under the upper brushes. The upper and lower brushes sensing the change in the group number as previously explained will cause their cooperating group indicating contacts 220. and 22]) to open. The wiping contact 316 will at this time be making contact with the zero segment of the commutator 28b the switch of which is closed and a circuit will be completed from the positive supply terminal 15 through contacts 16a, contact roll 17, .brush 11b, switch 296, zero commutator segment, commutator brush 311), line 40b, magnet 32?), line 25 tothe negative supply terminal 16. The energization of themagnet 326 causes the contacts 38?) to open as previously explained. When the brush 11a is at the perforation at the one 1ndex'position of the ten digits column, the commutator brush 31a will be making contact with the one position segment of the commutator 28a and a circuit will be established from the positive supply terminal 15, through contact 16a, contact roll 17, brush 11a, switch 29a, zero commutator segment, commutator brush 31a, line 40a, magnet 32a, line 25 to the negative supply terminal 16 thus energizing magnet 32a and causing the magnet 38a to open. All contacts 22a, 22b, 23, 38a and 38b being now open the circuit to the magnet 3 is broken and said magnet is deenergized causing the contact 2 to open and thereby stop the operation of the tabulating machine and effeet a total taking.

It can be readily seen therefore. that any group can arbitrarily be selected by the closing of the proper switches 29a and 29b to effect a t taL'disregarding the total taking at the end of the groups intervening between those selected. For example, if switch 29a corresponding to the 3 index point were closed and switch 29?) corresponding to the2 index point were closed and all other commutator switches left open, total taking would occur only on a change of group having the numbers 3 and 2 in their columns." Obviously more than one group could be selected for the control in the same way by closing more than one of the switches 29a and 29b.

I claim:

1. A group control system for record controlled machines comprising, recordcontrolled means tending to modify machine operation on a change in classification data on successive records and means cooperating with said first named means to nullify its eifect on the occurrence of preselected classification data changes. Q

2. A group control system for'record controlled machines comprising record controlled means tending to modify machine operation on any change in classification data on successive records and settable means cooperating with said first named means to limit theoperation 'thereof to preselected classification data changes only.

3. A group control system for record controlled machines comprising means operating solely according to classification data on successive controlling records and means including a selective device operating in conjunction with records bearing classification data and means controlled conjointly by said two first named means to modify machine operation only on a change in control data on successive records involving a data change selected by the selective device. A

4. A group control system for record controlled machines comprising means for comparing classification .data onsuccessive records and means for comparing data .on each record with a predetermined set up and means controlled conjointly by said two first f machine operation on a change in classificathe set up, and means controlled conjointly by said two first named means for modifying tion data on successive-records involving the data represented by the predetermined set up. I

6. A group control system for record controlled machines'comprising a pair of record analyzing devices for concurrently analyzing a pair of records for classification data, a

settable device cooperating with one of said analyzing devices and meanscontrolled conjointly by said pair of analyzing devices and said settable device associated with one of the analyzing devices 'tomodify machine operation on a change in classification data involving the'dat'a represented by the settable service.

7. A group control system for record controlled machines comprising a pair of analyzing devices for concurrently analyzing successive records for classification data and means controlled thereby according to like and unlike classification data on the records being analyzed, a device settable to conform to difl'erentclassification data on the records and means. controlled thereby conj ointly with one of said analyzing devices according to agreement or disagreement of the classification data on the record with the setting of the settable device and means conjointly controlled by said two first named means to control machine operations r 8. A group control system for record controlled machine comprising record analyzing means, a settable device with means for analyzing its set up concurrently with analysis of a record by the record analyzing means and means controlled conj ointly by said analyzing means and the settable device for controlling machine operation in one-way on agreement of the record being analyzed with the set up ot the settable device and in another way on disagreement of the record with the set trolled machines comprising analyzing means for successively analyzing index points on a controlling record, a device with controllingpositions corresponding to those on controlling records with selecting means for selectingsaid positions for control and means for analyzing said positions successively concurrently with record analysis, and means controlled conj ointly by said analyzing means lyzing said contacts concurrently with record analysis and a machine control circuit controlled conjointly by said record analyzing means and said device in one way on agreement and in another way on-disagreement of the records with said selected contacts.-

11. A group control system for record controlled machines comprising record ana-' lyzing means including a device for establishing a current path on encountering an index point on a controlling record, contact mechanism including contacts corresponding to index point positions on controlling rec-. ords with selective means for rendering said contact active for control upon said group control system when the records agree with the selected contacts, and means for analyzing said contacts concurrently with rec ord analysis and a machine control circuit including said device and said contacts in series.

' 12. A group control system for record controlled machines comprising record analyzing means including a brush for successively analyzing index point positions on controlling records, a commutator having contacts corresponding to index point positions on controlling records with selective means for selecting said contacts for operation, means for engaging said contacts successively in synchronism with record analysis and a machlne control c1rcu1t to modify machine operation in one way on agreement of the records with selected contacts and in another way on disagreement, said circuit being conjointly controlled by said brush and said commutator. A

13. A'group control system for record controlled machines comprising record analyzing means including abrush for successively analyzing index points positions on controlled records, a commutator having contacts corresponding to index point positions on records in series with said brushwith a switch associated with each contact for rendering it operative at will, contact means for engaging said contacts successively in synchronism with record analysis and a machine control circuit modified in its operation by said group control system in one'way on agreement and in ysis and a machine control circuit modified in its operation by said group control system in one way on agreement and in another way on disagreement of saidrecords with selected contacts, said circuit including said brush and said movable contact.

15. A group control system for'record controlled machines comprising record controlled means tending to modify machine operation on any change in classification data on successive records and'means selectively associable with desired record columns and cooperating with said first named means for limiting machine control thereby to the occurrence of preselected classification data changes in the selected card columns.

16. In a record controlled machine, a group control system comprising record analyzing means and devices controlled thereby for comparing classification data on successive records, mechanism controlled by said devices for segregating the operations of the machine with respect to different classification groups and additional selective means for limiting the operation of said mechnature.

operating with said devices for segregating data represented by the records into groups comprising a plurality of classifications, said settable means including a pluralit of selectable devices corresponding to the digits for preselecting the classifications which shall comprise said group of classifications. In testimony whereof I hereto afl'ix my sig- ULRICH KULM.

anism to segregate the operations of the machine to any selected plurality of groups under control of the classification comparing devices.

1'7. In a record cont-rolled machine, a group control system comprising. record analyzing means and devices controlled thereby for manifesting changes in classification data on successive records, and settable means cooperating with said devices for segregating data represented by the records into groups comprising a plurality of classifications.

18. In a record controlledmachine, a group control system comprising recor analyzing means and devices controlled thereby for' manifesting changes in classification data on successive records and settable means c0- operating with said devices for segregating data represented by the records into groups comprising a plurality of classifications, said sett able means including selectable devices for preselecting the highest and lowest classification which shall comprise said group of classifications.

19. In a record controlled machine, a group control system comprising record analyzing means and devices controlled thereby for manifesting changes in classification data on successive records and settable means oo- 

